Jim Fenton has worked at The Enterprise since 1981 and began covering the Celtics in the 1985-86 championship season when Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish formed the Big 3. He was seated courtside for nearly every home game during the 22-
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Jim Fenton has worked at The Enterprise since 1981 and began covering the Celtics in the 1985-86 championship season when Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish formed the Big 3. He was seated courtside for nearly every home game during the 22-year title drought that came to an end in 2008 when the new Big 3 of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen turned things around.

The Los Angeles Clippers are reportedly closing in on landing Doc Rivers to be their new head coach.

After a number of starts and stops in negotiations over the past nine days, the Celtics are going to let Rivers out of the final three years of his contract in exchange for a first-round pick from the Clippers.

Various media outlets reported on Sunday afternoon that the Clippers called the Celtics earlier in the day and offered a first-round pick for Rivers. The Celtics walked away from talks on Friday when the Clippers failed to offer a first-round draft pick, and Rivers reportedly told the Clippers he was finished with the whole process.

Now, however, it appears that the Celtics will get an unprotected first-rounder in 2015, according to Yahoosports.com.

The Clippers have to finalize a contract with Rivers, expected to be $35 million over five years, and the league office will have to approve the transaction on Monday.

That could be a tricky proposition since Commissioner David Stern said last week the deal can't be connected to a proposed trade involving Kevin Garnett and DeAndre Jordan.

That swap has been placed on hold as the Clippers wanted to get Rivers under contract first before proceeded with Garnett, but that may not happen.

Rivers coached nine seasons in Boston, winning the 2008 championship. But he did not want to oversee a rebuilding project that will begin with the 2013-14 season.